Address of Senator John F. Kennedy
Accepting the Democratic Party Nomination for the Presidency of the United States
Memorial Coliseum, Los Angeles July 15, 1960
Governor Stevenson, Senator Johnson, Mr. Butler, Senator Symington, Senator Humphrey, Speaker Rayburn, Fellow Democrats, I want to express my thanks to Governor Stevenson for his generous and heart-warming introduction. It was my great honor to place his name in nomination at the 1956 Democratic Convention, and I am delighted to have his support and his counsel and his advice in the coming months ahead.
With a deep sense of duty and high resolve, I accept your nomination.
I accept it with a full and grateful heart--without reservation-- and with only one obligation--the obligation to devote every effort of body, mind and spirit to lead our Party back to victory and our Nation back to greatness.
I am grateful, too, that you have provided me with such an eloquent statement of our Party's platform. Pledges which are made so eloquently are made to be kept. "The Rights of Man"--the civil and economic rights essential to the human dignity of all men--are indeed our goal and our first principles. This is a Platform on which I can run with enthusiasm and conviction.
And I am grateful, finally, that I can rely in the coming months on so many others--on a distinguished running-mate who brings unity to our ticket and strength to our Platform, Lyndon Johnson--on one of the most articulate statesmen of our time, Adlai Stevenson--on a great spokesman for our needs as a Nation and a people, Stuart Symington--and on that fighting campaigner whose support I welcome, President Harry S. Truman-- on my traveling companion in Wisconsin and West Virginia, Senator Hubert Humphrey. On Paul Butler, our devoted and courageous Chairman.
I feel a lot safer now that they are on my side again. And I am proud of the contrast with our Republican competitors. For their ranks are apparently so thin that not one challenger has come forth with both the competence and the courage to make theirs an open convention.
I am fully aware of the fact that the Democratic Party, by nominating someone of my faith, has taken on what many regard as a new and hazardous risk--new, at least since 1928. But I look at it this way: the Democratic Party has once again placed its confidence in the American people, and in their ability to render a free, fair judgment. And you have, at the same time, placed your confidence in me, and in my ability to render a free, fair judgment--to uphold the Constitution and my oath of office--and to reject any kind of religious pressure or obligation that might directly or indirectly interfere with my conduct of the Presidency in the national interest. My record of fourteen years supporting public education--supporting complete separation of church and state--and resisting pressure from any source on any issue should be clear by now to everyone.
I hope that no American, considering the really critical issues facing this country, will waste his franchise by voting either for me or against me solely on account of my religious affiliation. It is not relevant. I want to stress, what some other political or religious leader may have said on this subject. It is not relevant what abuses may have existed in other countries or in other times. It is not relevant what pressures, if any, might conceivably be brought to bear on me. I am telling you now what you are entitled to know: that my decisions on any public policy will be my own--as an American, a Democrat and a free man.
Under any circumstances, however, the victory we seek in November will not be easy. We all know that in our hearts. We recognize the power of the forces that will be aligned against us. We know they will invoke the name of Abraham Lincoln on behalf of their candidate--despite the fact that the political career of their candidate has often seemed to show charity toward none and malice for all.
We know that it will not be easy to campaign against a man who has spoken or voted on every known side of every known issue. Mr. Nixon may feel it is his turn now, after the New Deal and the Fair Deal--but before he deals, someone had better cut the cards.
That "someone" may be the millions of Americans who voted for President Eisenhower but balk at his would be, self-appointed successor. For just as historians tell us that Richard I was not fit to fill the shoes of bold Henry II--and that Richard Cromwell was not fit to wear the mantle of his uncle--they might add in future years that Richard Nixon did not measure to the footsteps of Dwight D. Eisenhower.
Perhaps he could carry on the party policies--the policies of Nixon, Benson, Dirksen and Goldwater. But this Nation cannot afford such a luxury. Perhaps we could better afford a Coolidge following Harding. And perhaps we could afford a Pierce following Fillmore. But after Buchanan this nation needed a Lincoln--after Taft we needed a Wilson-- after Hoover we needed Franklin Roosevelt. . . . And after eight years of drugged and fitful sleep, this nation needs strong, creative Democratic leadership in the White House.
But we are not merely running against Mr. Nixon. Our task is not merely one of itemizing Republican failures. Nor is that wholly necessary. For the families forced from the farm will know how to vote without our telling them. The unemployed miners and textile workers will know how to vote. The old people without medical care--the families without a decent home--the parents of children without adequate food or schools--they all know that it's time for a change.
But I think the American people expect more from us than cries of indignation and attack. The times are too grave, the challenge too urgent, and the stakes too high--to permit the customary passions of political debate. We are not here to curse the darkness, but to light the candle that can guide us through that darkness to a safe and sane future. As Winston Churchill said on taking office some twenty years ago: if we open a quarrel between the present and the past, we shall be in danger of losing the future.
Today our concern must be with that future. For the world is changing. The old era is ending. The old ways will not do.
Abroad, the balance of power is shifting. There are new and more terrible weapons--new and uncertain nations--new pressures of population and deprivation. One-third of the world, it has been said, may be free- -but one-third is the victim of cruel repression--and the other one- third is rocked by the pangs of poverty, hunger and envy. More energy is released by the awakening of these new nations than by the fission of the atom itself.
Meanwhile, Communist influence has penetrated further into Asia, stood astride the Middle East and now festers some ninety miles off the coast of Florida. Friends have slipped into neutrality--and neutrals into hostility. As our keynoter reminded us, the President who began his career by going to Korea ends it by staying away from Japan.
The world has been close to war before--but now man, who has survived all previous threats to his existence, has taken into his mortal hands the power to exterminate the entire species some seven times over.
Here at home, the changing face of the future is equally revolutionary. The New Deal and the Fair Deal were bold measures for their generations--but this is a new generation.
A technological revolution on the farm has led to an output explosion--but we have not yet learned to harness that explosion usefully, while protecting our farmers' right to full parity income.
An urban population explosion has overcrowded our schools, cluttered up our suburbs, and increased the squalor of our slums.
A peaceful revolution for human rights--demanding an end to racial discrimination in all parts of our community life--has strained at the leashes imposed by timid executive leadership.
A medical revolution has extended the life of our elder citizens without providing the dignity and security those later years deserve. And a revolution of automation finds machines replacing men in the mines and mills of America, without replacing their incomes or their training or their needs to pay the family doctor, grocer and landlord.
There has also been a change--a slippage--in our intellectual and moral strength. Seven lean years of drouth and famine have withered a field of ideas. Blight has descended on our regulatory agencies--and a dry rot, beginning in Washington, is seeping into every corner of America--in the payola mentality, the expense account way of life, the confusion between what is legal and what is right. Too many Americans have lost their way, their will and their sense of historic purpose.
It is a time, in short, for a new generation of leadership--new men to cope with new problems and new opportunities.
All over the world, particularly in the newer nations, young men are coming to power--men who are not bound by the traditions of the past--men who are not blinded by the old fears and hates and rivalries-- young men who can cast off the old slogans and delusions and suspicions.
The Republican nominee-to-be, of course, is also a young man. But his approach is as old as McKinley. His party is the party of the past. His speeches are generalities from Poor Richard's Almanac. Their platform, made up of left-over Democratic planks, has the courage of our old convictions. Their pledge is a pledge to the status quo--and today there can be no status quo.
For I stand tonight facing west on what was once the last frontier. From the lands that stretch three thousand miles behind me, the pioneers of old gave up their safety, their comfort and sometimes their lives to build a new world here in the West. They were not the captives of their own doubts, the prisoners of their own price tags. Their motto was not "every man for himself"--but "all for the common cause." They were determined to make that new world strong and free, to overcome its hazards and its hardships, to conquer the enemies that threatened from without and within.
Today some would say that those struggles are all over--that all the horizons have been explored--that all the battles have been won-- that there is no longer an American frontier.
But I trust that no one in this vast assemblage will agree with those sentiments. For the problems are not all solved and the battles are not all won--and we stand today on the edge of a New Frontier--the frontier of the 1960's--a frontier of unknown opportunities and perils-- a frontier of unfulfilled hopes and threats.
Woodrow Wilson's New Freedom promised our nation a new political and economic framework. Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal promised security and succor to those in need. But the New Frontier of which I speak is not a set of promises--it is a set of challenges. It sums up not what I intend to offer the American people, but what I intend to ask of them. It appeals to their pride, not to their pocketbook--it holds out the promise of more sacrifice instead of more security.
But I tell you the New Frontier is here, whether we seek it or not. Beyond that frontier are the uncharted areas of science and space, unsolved problems of peace and war, unconquered pockets of ignorance and prejudice, unanswered questions of poverty and surplus. It would be easier to shrink back from that frontier, to look to the safe mediocrity of the past, to be lulled by good intentions and high rhetoric--and those who prefer that course should not cast their votes for me, regardless of party.
But I believe the times demand new invention, innovation, imagination, decision. I am asking each of you to be pioneers on that New Frontier. My call is to the young in heart, regardless of age--to all who respond to the Scriptural call: "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed."
For courage--not complacency--is our need today--leadership--not salesmanship. And the only valid test of leadership is the ability to lead, and lead vigorously. A tired nation, said David Lloyd George, is a Tory nation--and the United States today cannot afford to be either tired or Tory.
There may be those who wish to hear more--more promises to this group or that--more harsh rhetoric about the men in the Kremlin--more assurances of a golden future, where taxes are always low and subsidies ever high. But my promises are in the platform you have adopted--our ends will not be won by rhetoric and we can have faith in the future only if we have faith in ourselves.
For the harsh facts of the matter are that we stand on this frontier at a turning-point in history. We must prove all over again whether this nation--or any nation so conceived--can long endure--whether our society--with its freedom of choice, its breadth of opportunity, its range of alternatives--can compete with the single-minded advance of the Communist system.
Can a nation organized and governed such as ours endure? That is the real question. Have we the nerve and the will? Can we carry through in an age where we will witness not only new breakthroughs in weapons of destruction--but also a race for mastery of the sky and the rain, the ocean and the tides, the far side of space and the inside of men's minds?
Are we up to the task--are we equal to the challenge? Are we willing to match the Russian sacrifice of the present for the future--or must we sacrifice our future in order to enjoy the present?
That is the question of the New Frontier. That is the choice our nation must make--a choice that lies not merely between two men or two parties, but between the public interest and private comfort--between national greatness and national decline--between the fresh air of progress and the stale, dank atmosphere of "normalcy"--between determined dedication and creeping mediocrity.
All mankind waits upon our decision. A whole world looks to see what we will do. We cannot fail their trust, we cannot fail to try.
It has been a long road from that first snowy day in New Hampshire to this crowded convention city. Now begins another long journey, taking me into your cities and homes all over America. Give me your help, your hand, your voice, your vote. Recall with me the words of Isaiah: "They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run and not be weary."
As we face the coming challenge, we too, shall wait upon the Lord, and ask that he renew our strength. Then shall we be equal to the test. Then we shall not be weary. And then we shall prevail.
Thank you.
Source: John F. Kennedy Library and Museum
An address by Richard M. Nixon, Vice President of the United States, accepting the Republican National Convention's nomination as Candidate for the Presidency of the United States
Mr. Chairman, Delegates to this Convention, my fellow Americans: I have made many speeches in my life, and never have I found it more difficult to find the words adequate to express what I feel as I find them tonight.
To stand here before this great Convention, to hear your expressions of affection for me, for Pat, for our daughters, for my mother, for all of us who are representing our Party, is, of course, the greatest moment of my life.
I just want you to know that my only prayer as I stand here is that in months ahead I may be in some way worthy of the affection and the trust which you have presented to me on this occasion in everything that I say, everything that I do, everything that I think in this campaign and afterwards.
May I say also that I have been wanting to come to this Convention, but because of the protocol that makes it necessary for a candidate not to attend the Convention until the nominations are over I've had to look at it on television; but I want all of you to know that I have never been so proud of my Party as I have been in these last three days (loud cheers and applause) as I have compared this Convention, the conduct of our Delegates and our speakers, with what went on in my native State of California just two weeks ago (loud cheers and applause ) -- I congratulate Chairman Halleck and Chairman Morton and all of those who have helped to make this Convention one that will stand in the annals of our Party forever as one of the finest we have ever held.
Have you ever stopped to think of the memories you will take away from this Convention?
The things that run through my mind are these:
That first day with the magnificent speeches; Mr. Hoover with his great lesson for the American people ; Walter Judd with one of the most outstanding keynote addresses in either party in history (loud cheers and applause) ; and last night our beloved, fighting President making the greatest speech that I have ever heard him make (loud cheers and applause); your Platform and its magnificent presentation by Chuck Percy, the Chairman.
For these and for so many other things, I want to congratulate you tonight and to thank you from the bottom of my heart and on behalf of Americans-not just Republicans-Americans everywhere, for making us proud of our country and of our two-party system, for what you have done.
Tonight, too, I particularly want to thank this Convention for nominating as my running mate a world statesman of the first rank, my friend and colleague, Henry Cabot Lodge of Massachusetts.
In refreshing contrast to what happened in Los Angeles, you nominated a man who shares my views on the great issues and who will work with me and not against me in carrying out our magnificent Platform.
And may I say that during this week we Republicans, who feel our convictions strongly about our Party and about our country, have had our differences, but, as the speech by Senator Goldwater indicated yesterday ( cheers and applause) , and the eloquent and gracious remarks of my friend, Nelson Rockefeller, indicated tonight ( cheers and applause) , we Republicans know that the differences that divide us are infinitesimal compared to the gulf between us and what the Democrats would put upon us from what they did in Los Angeles at their convention two weeks ago.
It was only eight years ago that I stood in this very place after you had nominated as our candidate for the President one of the great men of our century, and I say to you tonight that for generations to come America, regardless of party, will gratefully remember Dwight Eisenhower as the man who brought peace to America, as the man under whose leadership America enjoyed the greatest progress and prosperity in history, but, above all, they will remember him as the man who restored honesty, integrity and dignity to the conduct of government in the highest office of this land.
And, my fellow Americans, I know now that you will understand what I next say, because the next President of the United States will have his great example to follow, because the next President will have new and challenging problems in the world of utmost gravity. This truly is a time for greatness in America's leadership.
I am sure you will understand why I do not say tonight that I alone am the man who can furnish that leadership. That question is not for me, but for you to decide (applause), and I only ask that the thousands in this hall and the millions listening in to me on television make that decision in the most thoughtful way that you possibly can, because what you decide this November will not only affect your lives and your future, it will affect the future of millions throughout the world. I urge you to study the records of the candidates, listen to my speeches and those of my opponent, and those of Mr. Lodge and those of his opponent, and then, after you have studied our records and listened to our speeches, decide-decide on the basis of what we say and what we believe-who is best qualified to lead America and the free world in this critical period.
To help you make this decision I would like to discuss tonight some of the great problems which will confront the next President of the United States and the policies that I believe should be adopted to meet them.
One hundred years ago, in this city, Abraham Lincoln was nominated for President of the United States. The problems which will confront our next President will be even greater than those that confronted him. The question then was freedom for the slaves and survival of the Nation. The question now is freedom for all mankind and the survival of civilization, and the choice you make-you-each of you listening to me makes-this November can affect the answer to that question.
What should your choice be and what is it?
Well, let's first examine what our opponents offered in Los Angeles two weeks ago. They claimed theirs was a new program, but you know what it was? It was simply the same old proposition that a political party should be all things to all men, and nothing more than that , and they promised everything to everybody, with one exception: They didn't promise to pay the bill.
And I say tonight that, with their convention, their platform and their ticket, they composed a symphony of political cynicism which is out of harmony with our times today.
Now, we come to the key question: What should our answer be? Some might say do as they do-outpromise them because that's the only way to win. I want to tell you my answer.
I happen to believe that their program would be disastrous for America; it would wreck our economy; it would dash our people's hopes for a better life-and I serve notice here and now that whatever the political consequences we are not going to try to outpromise our opponents in this campaign.
We are not going to make promises we cannot and should not keep, and we are not going to try to buy the people's votes with their own money.
To those who say that this position will mean political defeat, my answer is this: We have more faith than that in the good sense of the American people, provided the people know the facts-and that's where we come in.
I pledge to you tonight that we will bring the facts home to the American people off if, and we will do it with a campaign such as this country has never seen before.
I have been asked by the newsmen sitting on my right and on my left all week long: "When is this campaign going to begin, Mr. Vice President? On the day after Labor Day or one of the other traditional starting dates?"
This is my answer: This campaign begins tonight, here and now, and it goes on (loud and prolonged cheers and applause)-and this campaign will continue from now until November 8th without any letup.
I've also been asked by my friends in the press on either side here: "Mr. Vice President, where are you going to concentrate? What states are you going to visit?" This is my answer: In this campaign we are going to take no states for granted, and we aren't going to concede any states to the opposition.
I announce to you tonight, and I pledge to you, that I, personally, will carry this campaign into every one of the fifty states of this Nation between now and November the eighth.
And in this campaign I make a prediction. I say that just as in 1952 and in 1956 millions of Democrats will join us--not because they are deserting their party, but because their party deserted them at Los Angeles two weeks ago.
Now, I have suggested to you what our friends of the opposition offered to the American people. What do we offer? First, we are proud to offer the best eight-year record of any administration in the history of this country ; but, my fellow Americans, that isn't all and that isn't enough because we happen to believe that a record is not something to stand on, but something to build on and, building on the great record of this Administration, we shall build a better America; we shall build an America in which we shall see the realization of the dreams, the dreams of millions of people not only in America, but throughout the world for a fuller, freer, richer life than men have ever known in the history of mankind.
Let me tell you something of the goals of this better America toward which we will strive. In this America our older citizens shall not only have adequate protection against the hazards of ill health, but a greater opportunity to lead a useful and productive life by participating to the extent they are able in the Nation's exciting work rather than sitting on the sidelines.
And in the better America, young Americans shall not only have the best basic education in America, but every boy and girl of ability, regardless of his financial circumstances, shall have the opportunity to develop his intellectual capabilities to the full.
Our wage earner shall enjoy increasingly higher wages in honest dollars, with better protection against the hazards of unemployment and old age.
And, for those millions of Americans who are still denied equality of rights and opportunities, I say there shall be the greatest progress in human rights since the days of Lincoln 100 years ago.
And America’s farmers – America’s farmers to whose hard work and almost incredible efficiency we know the fact that we are the best fed, best clothed people in the world – and I say America’s farmers must and will receive what they do not have today, and what they deserve – a fair share of America’s ever-increasing prosperity.
To accomplish these things we will develop to the full the untapped natural resources, our water, our minerals, our power, with which we are so fortunate to be blessed in this rich land of ours. We shall provide for our scientists the support they need for the research that will open exciting new ways into the future, new highways in which we shall have progress which we cannot even dream of today.
Above all, in this decade of the sixties, this decade of decision and progress, we will witness the continual revitalization of America’s moral and spiritual strength, with a renewed faith in the eternal ideals of freedom and justice under God which our are priceless heritage as a people.
Now I’m sure that many of you in this fall and many of you on television might well ask, “But, Mr. Nixon, don’t our opponents favor just such goals as these? “ And my answer is; “yes, of course.“ All Americans, regardless of party, want a better life for our people.
What’s the difference, then? I’ll tell you what it is. The difference is in the way we propose to reach of these goals, and the record shows that our way works and theirs doesn’t, and we’re going to prove it in this campaign. We produce on the promises that they make. We succeed where they fail. You know why? Because we put, as governor Rockefeller said in his remarks, our primary reliance not upon government, but upon people for progress in America. That is what we will succeed.
We must never forget that the strength of America is not its government, but in it’s people; and we say tonight that there is no limit to the goals America can reach, provided we stay true to the great American traditions.
A government has a role, and a very important one, but the role of government is not to take responsibility from people, but to put responsibility on them. It is not to dictate to people, but to encourage and stimulate the creative productivity of 180 million Americans. That’s the way to progress in America.
In other words, we have faith in the people and, because our programs for progress are based on that faith, we shall succeed where our opponents will fail in building the better America I’ve described.
But if these goals are to be reached, the next president of the United States must have the wisdom to choose between the things that government should and should not do. He must have the courage to stand against the pressures of the few for the good of the many, and he must have the vision to press forward on all fronts for the better life our people want.
Now, I’ve spoken to you of the responsibilities of our next President at home. Those which he will face abroad will be infinitely greater, but before I look to the future let me say a word about the past.
At Los Angeles two weeks ago, we heard the United States – our government – blamed for Mr. Khrushchev’s sabotage of the Paris conference. We heard the United States blamed for the actions of Communist-led mobs in Caracas and Tokyo. We heard that American education and American scientists are inferior. We’re heard that America, militarily and economically, is a second-rate country. We heard that American prestige is at an all-time low.
This is my answer: I say at a time the Communists are running us down abroad, it’s time to speak up for America at home. and, my friends, let us recognize American has its weaknesses, and constructive criticism of those weaknesses is essential – essential so that we can correct our weaknesses and the best traditions of our democratic process. But let us also recognize this: while it is the intent to see nothing wrong in America, is just as wrong to refuse to recognize what is right about America.
Tonight I say to you no criticism – no criticism – should be allowed to obscure the truth, either at home or abroad, but today America is the strongest nation, militarily, economically and ideologically, in the world; and we have the will and the stamina and the resources to maintain that strength in the years ahead.
And now, if we may turn to the future, we must recognize that the foreign policy problems of the sixties will be different and they’ll be vastly more difficult than those of the fifties through which we have just passed.
We are in a race tonight, my fellow Americans, in a race for survival, in which our lives, our fortunes, our liberties are at stake. We are ahead now, but the only way to stay ahead in a race is to move ahead; and the next President will make decisions which will determine whether we win or whether we lose this race.
What must he do? These things, I believe: he must resolve, first and above all, that the United States must never settle for second best in anything. lets it look at the specifics.
Militarily, the security of the United States must be put before all other considerations. Why? Not only because this is necessary to deter aggression, but because we must make sure that we are never in a position at the conference table where Mr. Khrushchev or his successor is able to coerce an American President because of his strength and our weakness.
Diplomatically, let us look at what the problem is. Diplomatically, our next President must be firm-firm on principle-but he must never be belligerent. He must never engage in a war of words which might heat up thc international climate to the igniting point of nuclear catastrophe. But, while he must never answer insults in kind, he must leave no doubt at any time that, whether it is in Berlin or in Cuba or anywhere else in the world, America will not tolerate being pushed around by anybody any place.
Because we have already paid a terrible price in lives and resources to learn that appeasement leads not to peace, but to war, it will, indeed, take great leadership to steer us through the years, avoiding the extreme of belligerency on the one hand and appeasement on the other.
Now, Mr. Kennedy has suggested that what the world needs is young leadership; and, understandably, this has great appeal because it is true that youth does bring boldness and imagination and drive to leadership, and we need all those things. But I think most people will agree with me tonight when I say that President de Gaulle, Prime Minister Macmillan and Chancellor Adenauer are not young men-but we are indeed fortunate that we have their wisdom and their experience and their courage on our side in the struggle for freedom today in the world.
And I might suggest, as we consider the relative merits of youth and age, it is only fair to point out that it was not Mr. de Gaulle or Mr. Macmillan or Mr. Adenauer, but Mr. Kennedy who made the rash and impulsive suggestion that President Eisenhower could have apologized or sent regrets to Mr. Khrushchev for the U-2 flights--which the President had ordered to save our country from surprise attack.
But formidable as will be the diplomatic and military problems confronting the next President, far more difficult and critical will be the decisions he must make to meet and defeat the enemies of freedom in an entirely different kind of struggle.
Now I want to speak to you of another kind of aggression, aggression without war, where the aggressor comes not as a conqueror but as a champion of peace, of freedom, offering progress and plenty and hope to the unfortunates of the earth.
I say tonight that the major problem, the biggest problem, confronting the next President of the United States will be to inform the people of the character of this kind of aggression, to arouse the people to the mortal danger it presents and to inspire the people to meet that danger. He must develop a brand new strategy which will win the battle for freedom for all men, and win it without a war.
That is the great task of the next President of the United States and this will be a difficult task, difficult because at times our next President must tell the people not what they want to hear, but what they need to hear. Why, for example, it may be just as essential to the national interest to build a dam in India as in California.
It will be difficult, too, because, you know, we Americans have always been able to see and understand the danger presented by missiles and airplanes and bombs; but we have found it bard to recognize the even more deadly danger of the propaganda that warps the mind, the economic offensive that softens a nation, the subversion that destroys the will of the people to resist tyranny. And, yet, may I say tonight that the fact that this threat is, as I believe it to be, the greatest danger we have ever confronted, this is no reason for lack of confidence in the outcome.
Do you know why? Because there is one great theme that runs through our history as a nation: Americans are always at their best when the challenge is greatest.
And I say tonight that we Americans shall rise to our greatest heights in this decade of the sixties as we mount the offensive to meet those forces which threaten the peace and the rights of free men everywhere; but there are some things we can do and some things we must do, and I would like to list them for you tonight.
First, we must take the necessary steps which will assure that the American economy grows at a maximum rate so that we can maintain our present massive lead over the Communist bloc. How do we do this? There isn't any magic formula by which government in a free nation can bring this about. The way to assure maximum growth in America is not by expanding the functions of government, but by increasing the opportunities for investment and creative enterprise for millions of individual Americans.
At a time when the Communists have found it necessary to turn to decentralization of their economy and to turn to the use of individual incentives to increase productivity-at a time, in other words, when they are turning our way-I say we must not and we will not make the mistake of turning their way.
There is another step that we must take-a second one: Our government activities must be reorganized, reorganized to take the initiative from the Communists and to develop and carry out a world-wide strategy and offensive for peace and freedom. The complex of agencies which have grown up through the years for exchange of persons, for technical assistance, for information, for loans and for grants-.all these must be welded together into one powerful economic and ideological striking force under the direct supervision and leadership of the United States because what we must do, you see, is to wage the battles for peace and freedom with the same unified direction and dedication with which we wage battles in war.
If these activities are to succeed, we must develop a better training program for the men and women who will represent our country at home and abroad. What we need are men with abroad knowledge of the intricacies and techniques of the strategy of the Communists, with a keen knowledge of the great principles for which free people stand; and, above all, men who with zeal and dedication which the Communists cannot match, will outthink, outwork and outlast the enemies of freedom wherever they meet them any place in the world. This is the kind of men we must train.
We must recognize something else. Government can't do this job alone. The most effective proponents of freedom are not governments, but free people; and this means that every American-every one of you listening tonight-who works or travels abroad, must represent his country at its best in everything that he does.
The United States, big as it is, strong as it is, can't do this job alone. The best brains, the fullest resources of other free nations, which have as great a stake in freedom as we have, must be mobilized to participate with us in this task to the extent they are able.
But do you know what is most important of all? Above all, we must recognize that the greatest economic strength that we can imagine, the finest government organization--all this will fail if we are not united and inspired by a great idea, an idea which will be a battle cry for a ground offensive to win the minds and the hearts and the souls of men. Do we have such an idea?
The Communists proclaim over and over again that their aim is the victory of communism throughout the world. It is not enough for us to reply that our aim is to contain communism, to defend the free world against communism, to hold the line against communism. The only answer to a strategy of victory for the Communist world is a strategy of victory for the free world.
But let the victory we seek be not victory over any other nation or any other people. Let it be the victory of freedom over tyranny, of plenty over hunger, of health over disease, in every country of the world.
When Mr. Khrushchev says our grandchildren will live under communism, let us say his grandchildren will live in freedom.
When Mr. Khrushchev says The Monroe Doctrine is dead in the Americas, we say, the doctrine of freedom applies everywhere in the world.
I say tonight, let us welcome-let us welcome-Mr. Khrushchev's challenge to peaceful competition of our systems, but let us reply, ’Let us compete in the Communist world as well as in the free world," because the Communist dictators must not be allowed a privileged sanctuary from which to launch their guerilla attacks on the citadels of freedom.
And we say, further, extend this competition, extend it to include not only food and factories as he has suggested, but extend it to include the great spiritual and moral values which characterize our civilization.
Further, let us welcome, my friends--let us welcome-the challenge, not be disconcerted by it, not fail to meet it, the challenge presented by the revolution of peaceful peoples' aspirations in South America, in Asia, in Africa.
We can't fail in this Nation. We can't fail to assist them in finding a way to progress with freedom so that they will not be faced with the terrible alternative of turning to communism with its promise of progress at the cost of freedom.
Let us make it clear to them that our aim in helping them is not merely to stop communism, but that, in the great American tradition of concern for those less fortunate than we are, we welcome the opportunity to work with people everywhere in helping them achieve their aspirations for a life of human dignity. And this means our primary aim must be not to help governments, but to help people, to help people attain the life they deserve.
In essence, what I am saying tonight is that our answer to the threat of the Communist revolution is renewed devotion to the great ideals of the American Revolution, ideals that caught the imagination of the world one hundred and eighty years ago and that still live in the minds and hearts of people everywhere.
I could tell you tonight that all you need to do to bring about all of these things that I have described is to elect the right man as President of this country and leave these tasks to him. But, my fellow Americans, America demands more than that of me and of you.
When I visited the Soviet Union, in every factory there was a huge sign which read "Work for the victory of communism." What America needs today is not just a President, not just a few leaders, but millions of Americans working for the victory of freedom. Each American must make a personal and total commitment to the cause of freedom and all it stands for. It means wage earners and employers making an extra effort to increase the productivity of our factories. It means our students in school striving for excellence rather than adjusting to mediocrity. It means supporting and encouraging our scientists to explore the unknown, not just for what we can get, but for what we can learn, and it means, on the part of each American, assuming a personal responsibility to make this country which we love a proud example of freedom for all the world. Each of us, for example, doing our part in ending the prejudice which (one hundred years after Lincoln, to our shame, still embarrasses us abroad and saps our strength at home. Each of us participating in this and other political campaigns not just by going to the polls and voting, but by working for the candidate of his choice. Also, it means, my fellow Americans, sacrifice-not the grim sacrifice of desperation, but the rewarding sacrifice of choice which lifts us out of the humdrum life in which we live and gives us the supreme satisfaction which comes from working together in a cause greater than ourselves, greater than our Nation, as great as the whole world, itself.
What I propose tonight is not new. It is as old as America, and as young as America, because America will never grow old.
You will remember-listen-Thomas Jefferson said. "We act not for ourselves alone, but for the whole human race."
Lincoln said: “In giving freedom to the slave we assure freedom to the free. We shall nobly save or meanly lose the last best hope of earth.”
And Teddy Roosevelt said our first duty as citizens of the Nation is owed to the United States, but if we are true to our principles we must also think of serving the interests of mankind at large.
And Woodrow Wilson said: “A patriotic American is never so proud of the flag under which he lives as when it comes to mean to others, as well as to himself, a symbol of hope and liberty.”
And we say-we say today-that a young America shall fulfill her destiny by helping to build a new world in which men can live together in peace and justice and freedom with each other. But there is a difference today, an exciting difference, and the differences, because of the dramatic breakthroughs in science. For the first time in human history we have the resources, the resources to wage a winning war against poverty, busily indices were ever in excess in the world.
And upon next president of the United States will rest the responsibility to inspire and to lead the forces of freedom for this goal.
I’m sure now that you understand why I said at the beginning that it would be difficult for any man to say to that he is qualified to provide this kind of leadership. I can only say to you tonight that I believe in the American dream because I’ve seen it come true in my own life. I know something of the threat which confronts us, and I know something of the effort which will be needed to meet it.
I’ve seen hate for America not only in the Kremlin, but the eyes of Communist in our own country and on the ugly face of a mob in Caracas.
I’ve heard doubts about America expressed not just by Communists, but by sincere students and labor leaders in other countries searching for the way to a better life and wondering if we had lost that way. And I’ve seen love for America in countries throughout the world, in a crowd in Jakarta, in Bogota, and the heart of Siberia, in Warsaw – 250,000 people on the streets on a Sunday afternoon singing, crying, with tears running down their cheeks, and shouting, “Niech Zyje America!” – Long live the United States.
My fellow Americans, I know tonight that we must resist the hate; we must remove the doubts, but above all, we must be worthy of the love and the trust of millions on this earth for whom America is the hope of the world.
A hundred years ago Abraham Lincoln was asked during the dark days of the tragic War between the States whether he thought God was on his side. His answer was, “My concern is not whether God is on our side, but whether we are on God’s side.“
My fellow Americans, may that ever be our prayer for our country, and in that spirit, with faith in America, with faith in her ideals and in her people, I accept your nomination for President of the United States.
Source: "It is time to speak up for America." REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE BROCHURE
Courtesy: Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum
Statement of Senator John F. Kennedy
Announcing His Candidacy for the Presidency of the United States
U.S. Senate Caucus Room, Washington, D.C. January 2, 1960
I am announcing today my candidacy for the Presidency of the United States.
The Presidency is the most powerful office in the Free World. Through its leadership can come a more vital life for our people. In it are centered the hopes of the globe around us for freedom and a more secure life. For it is in the Executive Branch that the most crucial decisions of this century must be made in the next four years--how to end or alter the burdensome arms race, where Soviet gains already threaten our very existence--how to maintain freedom and order in the newly emerging nations--how to rebuild the stature of American science and education--how to prevent the collapse of our farm economy and the decay of our cities--how to achieve, without further inflation or unemployment, expanded economic growth benefiting all Americans--and how to give direction to our traditional moral purpose, awakening every American to the dangers and opportunities that confront us.
These are among the real issues of 1960. And it is on the basis of these issues that the American people must make their fateful choice for their future.
In the past 40 months, I have toured every state in the Union and I have talked to Democrats in all walks of life. My candidacy is therefore based on the conviction that I can win both the nomination and the election.
I believe that any Democratic aspirant to this important nomination should be willing to submit to the voters his views, record and competence in a series of primary contests. I am therefore now announcing my intention of filing in the New Hampshire primary and I shall announce my plans with respect to the other primaries as their filing dates approach.
I believe that the Democratic Party has a historic function to perform in the winning of the 1960 election, comparable to its role in 1932. I intend to do my utmost to see that that victory is won.
For 18 years, I have been in the service of the United States, first as a naval officer in the Pacific during World War II and for the past 14 years as a member of the Congress. In the last 20 years, I have traveled in nearly every continent and country--from Leningrad to Saigon, from Bucharest to Lima. From all of this, I have developed an image of America as fulfilling a noble and historic role as the defender of freedom in a time of maximum peril--and of the American people as confident, courageous and persevering.
It is with this image that I begin this campaign.
Source: John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum
Statement of Candidacy
By
Senator
Lyndon B. Johnson
Washington D.C.
July 5, 1960
A few days from now we begin choosing our next national leadership.
The final choice will be made in November–by all the people. But what you have to choose between in November will be decided for you at the two national conventions.
I know this responsibility weighs heavily on the 6,000 Americans who are delegates. I am sure they have the prayers of the 179 million Americans for whom they will be acting.
But what matters most in July may count for very little in the long and perilous years beyond.
After July, the bandwagons will be silent.
The dark horses will be out to pasture.
And we will stand face-to-face with whatever destiny this century holds for us–with one man, the one man we choose this year, standing out in front to lead us.
All the forces of evil in this world will stand poised, ready to strike at freedom through whatever weakness he may show. Those forces will have no mercy for innocence, no gallantry toward inexperience, no patience toward errors.
Since 1937, and FDR’s time, I have known the Presidency–and the men in it –intimately. I cannot truthfully say than any man is qualified for it in advance.
In days gone by, Democrats have had Woodrow Wilsons and Franklin Roosevelts and Al Smiths. But none of the conventions which nominated these giants opened with a choice already made. None was nominated on the first ballot. Even so recently as 1952, Governor Stevenson was not chosen until the third ballot.
Unlike the Republican Party, our Democratic Party has always had open and free conventions–and our greatest leaders have been nominated at our freest conventions.
Democrats–Democratic delegates–are going to make up their minds together in convention, as they have done before.
In these times, a few days can be a long time.
60 days ago the future looked vastly different than now. Men were talking confidently of far different things than now. Then came the Paris conference–and Mr. Khrushchev unmasked the future in all its grim challenge to us.
A few weeks ago the President left Washington here–with every reason to believe he would soon be visiting a strong bastion of freedom in the Far Pacific.
Within hours, the whole perspective of the Pacific’s whole future was changed for us and for the rest of this century.
The American Presidency itself has a far different role than it did when some began seeking to tie up those who will be convention delegates.
The choice we make in July–in both our parties–must take into account much that could not be seen six weeks or six days ago.
What all this may mean to individual men matters little. The party nominations are not “owed” to anyone.
My name will be placed in nomination at the Democratic Convention.
I understand that many will support my name on the first ballot–and a good many more on the second. Some of my supporters are even saying that by the third ballot votes for me may reach a majority
Whether this is true or not, I cannot say–nor can anyone.
The men and women who will be casting those votes do not know themselves. And I myself would never try to tell them that they should bind themselves in advance to any choice except the choice of what is best for America.
In their consideration, I shall be honored to have the delegates consider my candidacy.
I have a post of duty and responsibility here in Washington–as the Majority Leader of the United States Senate. Because of that duty–a duty to all the people–I cannot be absent when there is public business at stake.
This I could not do–for my country or my party.
Someone has to tend the store.
As much as I would have liked to say “yes” to those who have asked me to make an early announcement of my candidacy for the Democratic nomination I could not do so while Congress was in session.
Now that is changed. I am, as of this moment, a candidate. I’m a candidate for the Democratic nomination for the office of President of the United States.
These are some observations I want to make on the Presidency.
A President’s job is to maintain not his own position but the position of America–the position of the freedom alliance–against all the evil dangers now gathering.
If he himself is narrowly partisan, if he himself is a divisive influence, if he himself is inexperienced in making government work, he becomes a weak link in the whole chain of the free world.
Since Woodrow Wilson, the American Presidency has been looked to as the world’s chief of office of peace-making and leadership for freedom.
In many of the years since–especially the last thirty years–the American Presidency has been filled by a man who had or quickly won great international prestige and influence.
Now the Communists are moving in–to kill off, downgrade the new Presidency as a world influence.
If they can destroy the world’s trust in this office, the Communists can destroy the leadership of freedom itself.
That is why–after the Paris conference–I, for one, felt so strongly, as one who shares the responsibilities of national leadership that we should not do Mr. Khrushchev’s divisive work for him.
I did not–and I will not–leap in to chew on President Eisenhower, personally, just as I am not and will not spend my time now trying to destroy any of my party or other parties who might come to this high position.
Mistakes have been made–serious and inexcusable ones.
But my interest–and I believe the interest of most Americans–is in curing those mistakes–avoiding them–not in exploiting them for small partisan gains.
Because the next President of the United States–whoever he may be–will not be a hero President known to the world, it is many times more important than ever that he be able to make our freedom secure by making our system fully work.
The next President is not going to be a talking President–or a traveling President. He is going to be a working President.
He must work on America’s position in the world.
His job is to convince the world–both our enemies and our Allies–that America is strong and freedom is strong.
He can’t wring his hands that America is second-rate–because America is not a second-rate. He can’t cry out about moral decay–because this generation is not a generation of decay.
Certainly America’s voice will be an uninspiring voice if it can do no more than argue against growth, against raising our standards, against helping our aged and our young, against improving the people’s health, against creating new opportunity, against aiding the world’s underdeveloped areas.
To lead in the world, American must now–more than ever–be a symbol of justice for all. We must in our own land eradicate and erase injustice wherever it appears.
There are no problems our system cannot answer.
But to do these things, we must have in our national leadership a man able to stand against the challenge of the Communist world.
There will be little time to learn the job.
We can only anticipate that the next President will be greeted by the threat of a Russian submarine base in Cuba, less than 100 miles from our shores. He will be met by efforts to penetrate internally into Republics of this Hemisphere. He will be met by new ultimatums over Berlin. He will be met by attacks upon the security of American bases throughout the world–by insults to the American flag and embassies abroad–by indignities against our citizens everywhere.
Feeling as I do about the American Presidency–about the awesome tasks before our next national leadership–I would not presume to tell my fellow Democrats that I am the only man they should consider for this job or to demand than any delegate vote for me. I’m not going to go elbowing through 179 million Americans–pushing aside other Senators, Governors, Congressman–to shout, “Look at me–and at nobody else.”
I only want my fellow Democrats, my fellow Americans, to look long and hard and wisely to find the right man.
We of the Democratic Party have built a record of responsibility.
Americans have approved.
From the position of outs in Congress, in the Statehouses–in the City Halls, we have–in just six years moved to the position of ins, holding now the strongest majority position any party has held in modern times.
Responsibility has won the trust and the votes of the nation.
I am sure that responsibility–and only responsibility–will win again this fall and win the greater challenges for all the nation which lie beyond July, beyond November, beyond January.
Lyndon B. Johnson
Source: 'Statement of Candidacy by Senator Lyndon B. Johnson' Campaign Pamphlet
Statement of Candidacy
By
Senator
Lyndon B. Johnson
Washington D.C.
July 5, 1960
A few days from now we begin choosing our next national leadership.
The final choice will be made in November–by all the people. But what you have to choose between in November will be decided for you at the two national conventions.
I know this responsibility weighs heavily on the 6,000 Americans who are delegates. I am sure they have the prayers of the 179 million Americans for whom they will be acting.
But what matters most in July may count for very little in the long and perilous years beyond.
After July, the bandwagons will be silent.
The dark horses will be out to pasture.
And we will stand face-to-face with whatever destiny this century holds for us–with one man, the one man we choose this year, standing out in front to lead us.
All the forces of evil in this world will stand poised, ready to strike at freedom through whatever weakness he may show. Those forces will have no mercy for innocence, no gallantry toward inexperience, no patience toward errors.
Since 1937, and FDR’s time, I have known the Presidency–and the men in it –intimately. I cannot truthfully say than any man is qualified for it in advance.
In days gone by, Democrats have had Woodrow Wilsons and Franklin Roosevelts and Al Smiths. But none of the conventions which nominated these giants opened with a choice already made. None was nominated on the first ballot. Even so recently as 1952, Governor Stevenson was not chosen until the third ballot.
Unlike the Republican Party, our Democratic Party has always had open and free conventions–and our greatest leaders have been nominated at our freest conventions.
Democrats–Democratic delegates–are going to make up their minds together in convention, as they have done before.
In these times, a few days can be a long time.
60 days ago the future looked vastly different than now. Men were talking confidently of far different things than now. Then came the Paris conference–and Mr. Khrushchev unmasked the future in all its grim challenge to us.
A few weeks ago the President left Washington here–with every reason to believe he would soon be visiting a strong bastion of freedom in the Far Pacific.
Within hours, the whole perspective of the Pacific’s whole future was changed for us and for the rest of this century.
The American Presidency itself has a far different role than it did when some began seeking to tie up those who will be convention delegates.
The choice we make in July–in both our parties–must take into account much that could not be seen six weeks or six days ago.
What all this may mean to individual men matters little. The party nominations are not “owed” to anyone.
My name will be placed in nomination at the Democratic Convention.
I understand that many will support my name on the first ballot–and a good many more on the second. Some of my supporters are even saying that by the third ballot votes for me may reach a majority
Whether this is true or not, I cannot say–nor can anyone.
The men and women who will be casting those votes do not know themselves. And I myself would never try to tell them that they should bind themselves in advance to any choice except the choice of what is best for America.
In their consideration, I shall be honored to have the delegates consider my candidacy.
I have a post of duty and responsibility here in Washington–as the Majority Leader of the United States Senate. Because of that duty–a duty to all the people–I cannot be absent when there is public business at stake.
This I could not do–for my country or my party.
Someone has to tend the store.
As much as I would have liked to say “yes” to those who have asked me to make an early announcement of my candidacy for the Democratic nomination I could not do so while Congress was in session.
Now that is changed. I am, as of this moment, a candidate. I’m a candidate for the Democratic nomination for the office of President of the United States.
These are some observations I want to make on the Presidency.
A President’s job is to maintain not his own position but the position of America–the position of the freedom alliance–against all the evil dangers now gathering.
If he himself is narrowly partisan, if he himself is a divisive influence, if he himself is inexperienced in making government work, he becomes a weak link in the whole chain of the free world.
Since Woodrow Wilson, the American Presidency has been looked to as the world’s chief of office of peace-making and leadership for freedom.
In many of the years since–especially the last thirty years–the American Presidency has been filled by a man who had or quickly won great international prestige and influence.
Now the Communists are moving in–to kill off, downgrade the new Presidency as a world influence.
If they can destroy the world’s trust in this office, the Communists can destroy the leadership of freedom itself.
That is why–after the Paris conference–I, for one, felt so strongly, as one who shares the responsibilities of national leadership that we should not do Mr. Khrushchev’s divisive work for him.
I did not–and I will not–leap in to chew on President Eisenhower, personally, just as I am not and will not spend my time now trying to destroy any of my party or other parties who might come to this high position.
Mistakes have been made–serious and inexcusable ones.
But my interest–and I believe the interest of most Americans–is in curing those mistakes–avoiding them–not in exploiting them for small partisan gains.
Because the next President of the United States–whoever he may be–will not be a hero President known to the world, it is many times more important than ever that he be able to make our freedom secure by making our system fully work.
The next President is not going to be a talking President–or a traveling President. He is going to be a working President.
He must work on America’s position in the world.
His job is to convince the world–both our enemies and our Allies–that America is strong and freedom is strong.
He can’t wring his hands that America is second-rate–because America is not a second-rate. He can’t cry out about moral decay–because this generation is not a generation of decay.
Certainly America’s voice will be an uninspiring voice if it can do no more than argue against growth, against raising our standards, against helping our aged and our young, against improving the people’s health, against creating new opportunity, against aiding the world’s underdeveloped areas.
To lead in the world, American must now–more than ever–be a symbol of justice for all. We must in our own land eradicate and erase injustice wherever it appears.
There are no problems our system cannot answer.
But to do these things, we must have in our national leadership a man able to stand against the challenge of the Communist world.
There will be little time to learn the job.
We can only anticipate that the next President will be greeted by the threat of a Russian submarine base in Cuba, less than 100 miles from our shores. He will be met by efforts to penetrate internally into Republics of this Hemisphere. He will be met by new ultimatums over Berlin. He will be met by attacks upon the security of American bases throughout the world–by insults to the American flag and embassies abroad–by indignities against our citizens everywhere.
Feeling as I do about the American Presidency–about the awesome tasks before our next national leadership–I would not presume to tell my fellow Democrats that I am the only man they should consider for this job or to demand than any delegate vote for me. I’m not going to go elbowing through 179 million Americans–pushing aside other Senators, Governors, Congressman–to shout, “Look at me–and at nobody else.”
I only want my fellow Democrats, my fellow Americans, to look long and hard and wisely to find the right man.
We of the Democratic Party have built a record of responsibility.
Americans have approved.
From the position of outs in Congress, in the Statehouses–in the City Halls, we have–in just six years moved to the position of ins, holding now the strongest majority position any party has held in modern times.
Responsibility has won the trust and the votes of the nation.
I am sure that responsibility–and only responsibility–will win again this fall and win the greater challenges for all the nation which lie beyond July, beyond November, beyond January.
Lyndon B. Johnson
Source: 'Statement of Candidacy by Senator Lyndon B. Johnson' Campaign Pamphlet
December 30, 1959
STATEMENT BY SENATOR HUBERT H. HUMPHREY ( D.MINN.)
Over the past year I have traveled tens of thousands of miles into every region of the United States and into most of the states themselves. I have net with and talked to thousands of our fellow citizens, and have made no great effort to disguise my interest in seeking the Democratic nomination for the presidency.
I wish to express my sincere personal thanks to Governor Orville Freeman and Senator Eugene McCarthy for the leadership they have taken and continue to take in my behalf. It is a privilege to be associated with these two outstanding Democratic leaders.
I have now decided to enter my name in the Presidential primaries in Wisconsin, the District of Columbia, Oregon and South Dakota.
My record is well known. I have taken a clear—cut position on each of the major issues facing the American people. I shall take definite positions on new issues as they may arise, and bring these issues to the people.
I would like to enter other primaries. But each of these is an election contest in itself, and is expensive. Quite frankly, the financial resources available to me are 11mited. If financial support permits, I will enter other primaries, and will make known my decision on these when the time comes.
I have no Illusions about my quest for the Democratic Presidential nomination. It will be an uphill fight.
My support does not come principally from persons of position, rank or wealth.
Rather It comes largely from people, who, like myself, are of modest origin and limited financial means.
This in itself is one of the main reasons I am venturing to seek the nomination. I know from personal experience what it means to be the victim of depression, distress and natural disaster -- those unpredictable forces over which so many human beings have no control.
I also know that is precisely these Americans -- who lack the means, the power or the influence to fully control their own destiny -- who most need and yet lack a voice in the conduct of their government. They need a spokesman, and I intend to the best of my ability to be that spokesman.
Of one thing I am sure: If victory is to come to the Democratic Party, the plain people of this country must find in the Democratic standard—bearer a man they sense to be their true friend, their spokesman.
I am prompted to seek the nomination. too, because I believe that I can make a contribution the safety and security of our nation through formulation of a foreign policy based on the real strengths of our people. Far more Is needed then slogans and temporary flashes of activity. I would draw into the councils Of the Presidency men women from every walk Of American life -- a practice neglected in recent years -- searching out every new idea, program and policy that could make a contribution to American foreign policy and the unity Of free nations.
We can no longer tolerate government that reacts instead of taking the initiative.
We cannot afford to have an Administration that spends all of its time repairing damage instead of building solid, long—term programs.
I have faith in the American people. What we need is not fear of communism but faith in ourselves, not mere reaction to the threat from a competing society but bold initiative to seek out and defeat the older and greater enemies of men --disease, hunger, poverty and illiteracy.
I have seen a bankrupt and despairing America of 1932 lifted out of chaos and poverty and set on the road to recovery principally by one ingredient -- leadership. America met the challenge of both limited and total war with leaders determined to get the job done rather than worrying about the obstacles in the path.
The American people can be summoned to the challenge of the 1960’s, but not by a Government that knows costs but not values, that understands things but not people.
A fresh Leadership must look toward three goals in the new decade: the achievement of a just enduring peace, the realization of our economic potential, the achievement of dignity and justice for every American.
We can significantly raise the growth rate of our economy – not only to insure better lives for all Americans, but to enhance the well-being of men and women everywhere as a direct contribution to the long-range security of cur nation.
We must balance the moral budget as well as the fiscal budget, through stronger guarantees of human rights. This is essential, not only because it will make us the victors in the battle being waged for the minds and hearts of men and women in Asia, Africa and Latin America, but also because it is the right, the moral, the just thing to do.
Above all, we must seek to release the energies of mankind for constructive work. We must spare no effort to achieve agreement on a responsible program of disarmament with effective inspection and controls. However, the burden of arms spending, costly as it is for the free world, must continue to be borne until we can secure genuine arms control agreements.
We will hear much talk about peace and prosperity in the months ahead.
We all want prosperity. But the prosperity we want must not be lopsided. It should be a prosperity that results from an expanding economy with full shares for all – businessmen, farmers, working people, the young and the elderly. We seek prosperity for America that insures greater social justice.
We all want peace; peace is no partisan issue. But the peace we want must be enduring, must have deep roots.
Diplomatic tensions may be temporarily eased. But as long as we live in a world of the hungry, sick and the illiterate, human tensions will persist. True peace cannot sink its roots in such a world, and therefore cannot flourish.
Hence, to win enduring peace, the forces of freedom and decency must wage a war on the common enemies of mankind: poverty, hunger, disease and illiteracy. Peace is not passive; it is active. Peace will not come from slogans; it will come from programs.
No man can be certain that he can fully meet the goals he sets himself and for his nation. But those who believe deeply in the need for meeting those goals have an obligation to contribute what they can toward their attainment.
As Franklin Roosevelt said twenty-eight years ago when he announced his candidacy for the Presidency in a letter agreeing to enter the North Dakota primary:
"One who believes in new standards of government meeting new problems, in the transition of forward-looking thought into practical action, must welcome chance to do his share toward that end."
Source: John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum